Lashaway Inn’s future in jeopardy

EAST BROOKFIELD 
The future is in doubt for the Merola family’s decades-old Lashaway Inn on Route 9 based on action taken by selectmen at a hearing Monday night. They voted to approve the restaurant and bar’s all-alcoholic liquor license, but only until March 12, not the entire year.

Selectmen said their hands are tied. The state set a deadline of March 12 for the Lashaway Inn to install a sprinkler system to comply with state law, and that has not been done. The capacity of the Lashaway Inn exceeds 100 people, and that number triggers the need for sprinklers, according to state law

Lisa Merola was crying when she told selectmen Monday night the family was unable to get the funding from the bank for such a system. She estimated the cost at $150,000.

“I can’t get the funding because for the past three years the economy has been bad,” Ms. Merola said.

John Merola Jr., her brother, and their mother, Marion Merola, were also at the hearing.

“This woman grew up in this town and paid taxes for 40 years and I don’t understand how she can be treated like this,” John Merola said, referring to his mother.

The Merolas, who have known about the sprinkler requirement for several years and unsuccessfully appealed it, hope to find a way to reduce the capacity of their facility, but there is no guarantee it can be done and no guarantee the state will approve that kind of change.